University of Louisiana - Lafayette Men's Basketball

Murphy is in his second season on the Ragin Cajuns mens basketball staff, serving as Director of Basketball Operations.  A native of Whitewater, Wisc., Murphy brings 25 years of coaching experience to the Ragin Cajuns, including 13 as a head coach. Before arriving in Lafayette, Murphy served for 10 seasons as head womens coach at Troy (2002-12). He also was the head men's coach for three seasons at Viterbo (Wisc.) and has served on the staffs at Alabama (men's and women's) and Coastal Carolina (men's). Murphy is one of a select handful of coaches in the country that has been involved in the NCAA mens tournament, NCAA womens tournament, the NIT, the WNIT and the NAIA National Tournament as a coach. Named the third head coach in Troy history, Murphy steadily improved the Trojans as the school transitioned from the Atlantic Sun Conference to the Sun Belt beginning in the 2005-06 season. He recruited 14 all-conference players in his tenure with the Trojans along with 75 Academic all-conference selections. Before his tenure at Troy, Murphy spent seven years at Alabama working with both the mens and womens teams. He served for five seasons (1997-2002) as an assistant on the womens staff, helping the Crimson Tide reach the postseason each year, including two NCAA Tournametn appearances. For two seasons from 1995-97, Murphy was an Administrative Assistant on David Hobbs staff at Alabama that also included current Ragin Cajuns head coach Bob Marlin and assistant coach Neil Hardin. Murphy was part of the 1995-96 Crimson Tide team that finished 19-13 overall and advanced to the NIT Final Four. The seven-year stint in Tuscaloosa would be the second for Murphy, who began his career as a graduate assistant under Wimp Sanderson during the 1987-88 season. He served from 1992-95 as head men's coach at Viterbo, posting a 72-28 record and winning the Midwest Classic Conference championship in 1992 and the National Catholic Championship in 1995. He led the team to a pair of NAIA Top 25 finishes (No. 22 in 1994, and No. 8 in 1995). His success earned him NCBT Coach of the Year honors in 1995. Murphy accepted his first full-time coaching position on the men's staff at Coastal Carolina. In his four-year tenure, the Chanticleers captured three Big South Conference championships (1989, 1990 and 1991), posted a 73-42 record and earned a trip to the 1991 NCAA Tournament. Murphy was a four-year letterman in basketball at Cardinal-Stritch University in Milwaukee from 1980-84, serving as team captain in his final two years. He later played and coached professionally for the Rotorua Basketball Club in New Zealand from 1984-86 and for North Monastery Basketball Club in Cork, Ireland in 1986-87. Murphys association with the game of basketball has not been limited to the sidelines as he has served as a color analyst for game broadcasts, covering games for the Alabama Sports Network, the Alabama Cable Network, FOX Sports South and WVUA-TV in Tuscaloosa. Murphy earned his Bachelors Degree in Communications from Cardinal-Stritch in 1985. He is married to the former Elaine Smith, and the couple have two children; a daughter, Kristen Lakeman, and a son, Jackson.